ABSTRACT
Weight Effort is a practical tool for teaching dancers how to develop onstage characters, personalities, or attitudes. The overall "character" or attitude of a movement changes as the Weight Effort changes. This chapter presents a list of synonyms, images, and musical suggestions for teaching Weight Effort. It explores how Strong and Light Weight travel from the centre of dance teacher's body and outward to the limbs. The chapter focuses only on enlivening the lower body with Light Weight and the upper body with Strong Weight. It also focuses on experiencing Weight Effort in body and identifying how Weight Effort enhances the technique of the upper and lower body. A teacher spends time in class describing movement and providing verbal feedback to their dancers. Many current choreographers challenge dancers to develop characters or personalities in rehearsals, or to portray different moods through their dancing.
